A New Philosophy on Celebrating Fans

July 15, 2011

The secret to building meaningful customer relationships? It’s not much different than real life. Yet, it is so much different than your typical marketing effort. Both work to the same end, to sustain a business through profit. A more direct marketing will work quickly and it’s likely you will never see that customer again. Like a one-night stand with a cheap date. Relationship marketing takes more dedication and results in a lifetime of transactions with quality customers. The girl you want to marry…

This “Philosophy” is apparent upon a visit to their Facebook Fan Page. While one might expect to see polished product shots or unattainable women posing in airbrushed close ups, Philosophy features their customers. The “Welcome Tab” shown below let’s customers know it’s all about them. This is carried through Philosophy’s profile image which is regularly changed out to spotlight their featured fan. Photo submissions are openly collected on the Facebook Wall and we should note that there is nothing more at work here than fan recognition. No prizing, no freebie, no trip to the Bahamas.

How did they stay on brand? Philosophy’s product packaging and branding regularly features relic images of children from the company’s own family albums. The fan spotlight requests the audience post childhood pictures from their own family album circa 1940-1970 to the Facebook wall. This is accompanied by note about their favorite product and personal philosophy. An effort like this takes some creativity and strategy to not become another flat “share your story” campaign. It worked, you can view over 200 fan photo submissions in their fan celebration album. The brand now has an authentic set of customer testimonials and marketing material, while generating good feelings with their customer.

Here’s a philosophy we can all learn from:

Put your customer front and center.

Talk about your audience as much or more than you talk about your product.

Give your audience a platform to talk about themselves and other topics relevant to their life.

Make it personal.

Recognition is a motivator. Prizing is not always necessary.

Stop marketing. Let your fans tout the benefits of your product.

Stop moderating. Allow fans an open forum to share, post and discuss without hiding submissions in forms that go to corporate no-where land or sending every post to a moderation queue.

And in the words of our friends at Philosphy: You (will be) a shining star.

Melonie harnesses the power of social media to innovate brands. Over her 15+ year career she has led strategy at top digital agencies including Fandom Marketing, which she founded in 2011. She has worked with some of the largest household names in retail, wholesale, CPG, B2B and B2C. Melonie launched Brands With Fans in 2007 which has grown into a multi-contributor marketing publication.

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Brands With Fans is a social media marketing blog owned and operated by Fandom Marketing, a full service digital agency that's social. Get expert insights to integrate social marketing to your business and engage customers.